


All the Outs in Free

by badwolfbay303



Category: Oxenfree
Genre: Angst, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Post-Canon, Slow Build, im not sure yet??, maybe smut??
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-07-24 12:33:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16175168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badwolfbay303/pseuds/badwolfbay303
Summary: Supposedly, they made it off the island. But Alex is beginning to notice some... not loops, per se, but certainly discrepancies. Not to mention her growing infatuation with Jonas. The ghosts were very angry that she evaded their game, and she knows it had something to do with Michael. He isn't supposed to be alive, and let's just say that time (past) (fate) has a way of correcting itself.





	All the Outs in Free

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! So I've been toying with this idea for a while. Mostly, I just wanted an excuse to write Alex/Jonas angst and fluff, so here it is! Not quite sure exactly how many chapters I'm gonna write, but this is just the first of many. Feel free to leave comments and kudos! :)
> 
> (also, mad props if you can name the musical I reference, and the author whose writing format I've sampled)

They got off the island. No more loops, no more ghosts, and no more alternate realities. Despite knowing all of this logically, Alex couldn’t allow herself to relax as they made their way back to the mainland.

  
After she woke up on the ferry, it became clear that she was the only one who remembered the actual events of the island. Jonas wasn’t actually her right hand man, he was just some guy that Ren brought along. Michael was by her side the entire night, and he still was. He sat next to her with one arm around Clarissa, and the other on Alex’ leg. His presence was as unnerving as it was reassuring. Alex was beyond elated that she managed to get them off the island, and alter the past just enough to save Michael. But something just seemed wrong  
( _michael_ )  
and she didn’t know what. The others were happy and joking, and Ren kept quoting his stupid book, but she couldn’t shake her growing anxiety that something was wrong.  
( _michael_ )

  
Out of the corner of her eye, Alex noticed Jonas staring at her. She met his eyes, and he quickly looked away, turning to light a cigarette. Alex squeezed Michael’s hand,  
( _he's alive_ )  
and stood up to walk out of the cabin. She walked to Jonas and stood next to him, waiting for him to speak first. He held out his pack of cigarettes, offering her one, which she took.

  
Jonas lit it for her as Michael called out “Hey, since when does my kid sister smoke?”

  
“Since I had to relive the same night 47 times,” Alex muttered before she took a drag. She had stopped coughing at cigarette smoke after the first 9 loops. Only Jonas heard her. He watched her intently as she smiled and waved her brother off nonchalantly.

  
Jonas flicked the ash off his cigarette and into the ocean as he began to speak, “47 times, huh? You kept track?”

  
“Wait, you remember?” she demanded. “Why didn’t you speak up earlier? I’ve been feeling like I’m crazy.”

  
“I knew we had looped, but I could only remember the specifics of the last one,” he finally said after a minute of silence.

  
Alex sighed in defeat, “So you don’t remember.”

  
Jonas shook his head and took another drag of his cigarette. He stood with Alex in silence  
( _steadfast and stolid and stoic and solid in solidarity_ )  
until they finished smoking.

  
“I wish I did,” he said softly, touching the hand that Alex left on the rail. She smiled at him and squeezed his hand gently. Then he went back into the cabin with the others, leaving Alex at the rail. As soon as she was alone, Alex began to repeatedly run over her final interaction with the ghosts. What was different? Why did they escape this time? Had they truly escaped?

( _are they all out and free?_ )

  
Alex stood alone and watched the sun come up as the ferry docked at the mainland. In previous loops, they never made it back to the mainland. If she could put her feet on solid

( _steadfast and stolid and stoic and solid)_

ground, they will have made it back completely and officially.

  
As she turned to walk onto the dock, Alex found that she couldn’t convince her feet to move. She tried to call out to Ren, to Michael, but she couldn’t make her voice work. She was paralyzed.

  
J-Jonas,” she managed to choke out. He turned around, and seeing her distress, immediately went back to her.

  
“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked, putting his hand on her back.

  
“Jonas, I can’t,” Alex began. “If I step off the boat, we’ll go back to the island. It’ll loop again. I can’t do this again,” she said, fighting back tears.

  
“Alex, listen, it’s going to be fine. I am right here with you. I swear to God, I won’t leave you,” Jonas said. “And look, Ren and the others are waiting for you. C’mon.” He took hold of her arm and began to gently ease her off the boat. Slowly, she allowed herself to be moved.

  
Together, Alex and Jonas stepped off the boat and onto the mainland to join their friends.

They all got out.

( _are they all out_ )

They were free.

( _and_ _free?_ )


End file.
